Improvement in combined bidet and foot-bath



2 sheets-sheet 1.

I M. CHURCH. 4 Combined Bidet and Foot Bath. No. 222,868. Patented Dec. 23,1879.

\ I M W amt/[WW N. PETERS, PHoTo-UTMOGRAPHER. wAsmNaTon. Dvc.

2 Sheets-Sheena.

M. CHURCH. Combined Bidet and Foot Bath. No. 222,868. Patented Dec. 23,1879.

OFFICE MERWIN CHURCH, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN COMBINED BIDET AND FOOT-BATH.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 222,868, dated December 23, 1879; application filed April 3, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MERWIN CHURCH, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of lllinois, have invented a Combined Bidet and Foot-Bath, or Childs Bath, or Sitz-Bath, of which the following specification is a full and clear description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective, showing the fori of the combined article containing the invention. Fig. 2 is a central section of same. Fig. 3, Sheet 2, is a top view; Fig. 4, Sheet 2, a section, showing a part of one side and part of the seat attached thereto.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts.

The invention has relation to bathing vessels or tubs; and it consists in the form of construction, shape, and arrangement of the article and its parts, whereby it is adapted to the various uses for which it is intended namely, as a bidet or article of furniture used in bathing the private parts, as a foot-bath, or childs bath, or sitz-bath, the former being the principal one had in View, the others being incidental thereto.

Heretofore the bidet has been made of very awkward shape, and was very clumsy and inconvenient to. handle, use, or store, being large and high, and set upon legs, so that the user must stand astride of it, and was not adapted to any other use, and, owing to its shape, size, and construction, has been a comparatively expensive article of furniture.

bottom, oval in shape, and secured to the loweredge of the side pieces, so that a person may stand with his whole weight in the vessel, the bottom resting on the floor.

The body is made in two sections, one section, A, forming one half the body, being secured to the bottom, so as to stand quite perpendicular when the bottom is in a horizontal plane. This section is made about twelve inches high, (more or less,) and is provided with the crescent-shaped flange C, attached firmly to the top thereof, and projecting on the outside of the vesselfor a seat. forming the other half of the body, is secured to the bottom at an obtuse angle thereto, is made about eighteen inches in height at its center, and has the corners rounded off at the top, so thatthe edges joined to A shall correspond thereto. in height. The sections A B are joined together in any of the usual methods of joining pieces of sheet metal, and the bottom is secured in like manner. The seatflange C is also secured to the top of section A by solder or any of the known ways, and

is provided with the brace C, secured to its outer I edge and down on the side of section A to give said seat-flange greater strength. The said seat-flange is provided with a hole or holes, b, to admit the hook or hooks of a soap-dish, D, when using the bidet as a foot or leg bath; otherwise-that is, when the user sits upon the seat C-the soap-dish should be removed from the hole I) andhooked over the rim on the opposite side.

The vessel thus formed is of an oval or oblong shape, and flaring from the bottom to the top 'on all its sides except the one having the flan ge-seat C attached, which should be quite perpendicular, in order to bear the weight of a person sitting on the seat C without tipping over the bidet.

In using the bidet as such, the user should, after removing the soap-dish, sit down upon the flanged seat C with the face toward the opposite flaring side, B, with onefoot on each side of the bidet. This puts the user in a convenient and easy posture to bathe and sup ports him comfortably in such posture during the bathing. In using the same as a foot or leg bath, the higher side should be turned toward the user, so as to prevent the water, when washing the legs,from falling outside upon the floor.

It will readily be seen from the oblong shape of the bidet and its length, which is from eighteen to twenty-four inches, that it is well adapted to be used for a childs bath.

I am aware of the Patent of the United The other section, B,

States No. 205,490, granted to E. Knessner ancLF. Avril, July 2, 1878, and the form of bathing tubor vessel therein shown, and I make noclaim to such form of tub, or any of the devices shown in said patent; but,

Having thus described my invention, What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patcut, is

As an improvement in bidet and foot-bath, the vessel constructed with a flat, oval bottom, secured to the sides at the extreme lower edge,

said sides being composed of the sections A and B, section A standing quite perpendicular, and having a flange-scat, G, projecting 011 the outside of the vessel, permanently secured to the top of said section A, and section B being flaring, substantially as set forth.

MERWIN CHURCH.

Witnesses FREDERICK O. GooDWIN, HENRY S. TOWLE. 

